


True Family

by seasparks



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Background Relationships, F/F, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Spoilers, Gen, M/M, Minor Character Death, Past Abuse, Revenge, showing off your engagement ring before you assassinate a guy because you're Gay And In Love, your trauma is valid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 09:15:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20833031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasparks/pseuds/seasparks
Summary: extremely self-indulgent fic about finally dealing with Bernie's horrible abusive father.





	True Family

"Your presence is needed in Enbarr for urgent matters of state. Come at once. You will receive more details once you arrive."

Count Varley had been to the imperial capital before, but never at the direct request of the emperor, and certainly not for mysteriously unstated reasons. He wondered what could possibly require such secrecy: another war with Dagda? An insurrection among the nobility still loyal to the old Duke Aegir? Perhaps—and his heart jumped at the thought—he had been chosen to rule the conquered territory of the Alliance or the Kingdom? Or both at once?

The count had known for years that his political acumen would have to be noticed by the throne sooner or later. The kidnapping of his daughter Bernadetta had postponed his hopes of gaining influence through an advantageous marriage, so with each passing year he grew more impatient to receive the attention he deserved.

"Hello." The count jumped at the sudden voice behind him.

"Aaah! W-where did you come from?" Surely the imperial courtyard where he had been told to wait upon his arrival was well-protected, but he had heard no one approach.

"I live here. Her majesty sends her greetings." The bored voice belonged to a man in the solid-black uniform of a general in the imperial sorcery corps. The count jumped again when he saw the man's reptilian eye fixed on him with a calculating gaze, his other eye hidden under tangled black hair. This could only be...

"Lord Vestra! My humblest apologies; you startled me. How may House Varley be of assistance to the empire?" Vestra's ascension to head of his house alongside the emperor's coronation had been a hot topic amongst the nobility. Some said he assassinated his father; others say his father tried to kill him but was bested by his son. Everyone agreed that he was not a man to be taken lightly. The count's excitement grew; he knew he had something big coming to him, but to be noticed by Hubert von Vestra himself was beyond even his wildest dreams.

Hubert's gaze stayed on him, unblinking. "Hm. You may begin by looking at my attire."

"Your...attire? My lord, what am I supposed to—"

"I suggest you use that famous intellect of yours and figure it out for yourself."

So that's why he was here: a test. The count scrutinized Hubert's uniform to see if anything was off about it. It was laden with numerous medals for his deeds in the war & since: the Black Eagle of Imperial Commendation, given out at the emperor's discretion; the Crest of Seiros, given to those who risked their lives for the imperial family; the Crest of Flames, given out for outstanding feats of bravery and selflessness on the battlefield. There was one in the shape of a small, odd-looking automaton, but...no, that was a commendation for fending off invaders. Just beneath it, however, was something that certainly did not belong.

"Is that...an embroidered flower?"

"Very astute. Does it look familiar at all? Perhaps you recognize the handiwork, or have seen similar in the past?"

Count Varley could not imagine what he was being tested for here, but he was now certain that that was the purpose of this meeting. "I cannot say that it does. What is this about?

Hubert let a long silence settle between them, a menacing half-smile growing on his lips. Only one of them found the silence uncomfortable. "I see," he finally said. "Pity. I was hoping you'd surprise me."

"M-my lord?" The count couldn't keep his voice from shaking. Had he failed?

Hubert's expression shifted to cold malice. "I hypothesized that you paid little, if any, attention to the few things in this world you left that brought Bernadetta joy, but I needed to verify that personally. Thank you; this meeting has already been...enlightening."

Count Varley froze when Hubert mentioned Bernadetta. "My daughter? You mean the one who was stolen away from me to that horrible academy? Do you know her current whereabouts? I had a very advantageous marriage lined up for her with the Aegir scion before she was—"

"Shut up, you odious man," Hubert snapped. "You forfeited the right to call Bernadetta your daughter long before I met her. She is among friends now, and all of us—including the emperor—would take up arms to protect her from you."

Count Varley's face flushed red with anger. "How _dare _you speak to me that way! I have been nothing but an exemplary noble of the Adrestian Empire, and my only wish for my daughter was for her to be the same! True, I had to make sacrifices to get where I am, but the emperor would surely understand for sacrifice in the name of a greater cau—urk!" A blast of dark magic shot out of Hubert's hands and struck the count, dazing him and rooting his feet to the ground.

"You have made a grave error," Hubert hissed, his voice dripping with venom. "You are but a rat in a sewer compared to Her Majesty. Your only 'sacrifice' was your daughter's health and sanity, all for your own gain. Her Majesty poured her entire being into her dream of a better Fódlan, and I have watched for years as she destroyed herself in the name of her cause, each sacrifice she was forced to push onto others adding to her already-considerable burdens. I have no doubt that, were it not for her empress, she would die rather than let harm come to Bernadetta, even were they complete strangers. If only I could say the same for you."

Hubert continued, a malicious twinkle in his unhidden eye. "You may also wish to know that, even if Bernadetta were to have the great misfortune of returning to you, Ferdinand von Aegir is spoken for; I am to marry him next month."

Despite the dire situation he found himself in, the count let his curiosity get the better of him. "You're officiating his wedding? To whom?" He had heard no gossip of such an arrangement, nor was he aware that the famously atheist imperial minister was ordained.

"To _myself_, you dolt." With a flourish, Hubert showed off the engagement ring he wore, ostentatious against the monochrome uniform and war decorations. "But I am afraid we are out of time. I promised their majesties to avoid unnecessary suffering or bloodshed, but only a fool would attempt to redeem you. As such, by my authority and the authority of Emperor Edelgard von Hresvelg-Eisner, I strip you of your title and transfer it to your daughter, Count Bernadetta von Varley."

Varley's eyes widened. "You...! You can't do that! My title cannot be transferred by you; it is mine until death unless I say otherwise!"

"Hm. Indeed."

Hubert turned away from Varley and began walking out of the courtyard. After a few paces, an arrow flew from one of the trees in front of him and past his face, toward the man trapped behind him.

"Thank you, Shamir," Hubert said to the woman who dropped down from the tree a moment later. "Shall we report? I must thank the professor for this wonderful opportunity."

"Agreed," Shamir replied, and they set off toward the palace.

* * *

"My love, have you seen Hubert this evening? Hilda and Marianne just finished his and Ferdinand's wedding invitations, and I wanted to show him before sending them out." Edelgard sat down next to her wife and leaned her head on their shoulder.

"Bernadetta's father arrived today. I sent him and Shamir to handle it," Byleth replied. "They should be back soon."

"Oh, I see. I wish you had told me, Byleth; I am more than capable of handling these matters."

"I know, El." Byleth wrapped their arm around their wife and pulled her closer. "You've been fighting your own demons your whole life. Now that Thales and the Immaculate One are gone, you deserve a break. Let me fight our friends' demons. You deserve to stuff your face with sweets, or watch the sunset. You deserve anything you desire."

Edelgard let herself relax against Byleth. "What I desire is to do those things with you, my love. I want us both to know the joys of idling."

"What else would you call this?" Byleth tone was playfully stern. "You aren't secretly working, are you? If you are, I demand that you stop at once. Working while cuddling your wife is hardly appropriate behavior for an emperor."

After years of marriage, Edelgard's laughter was still just as beautiful to Byleth as the first time they heard it, and far more frequent. "It appears that you have outmaneuvered me once again. Even so, they're hardly comparable, don't you think? The power our enemies wielded in the past was hardly comparable to a minor noble of a minor house."

"El." Byleth's tone was serious this time. "Thales' experiments were a traumatic experience for you, weren't they?"

"Well, I don't know if I'd go as far as _traumatic, _but—"

"_El._"

"...yes. It was...probably traumatic for me."

"Bernie told you how her father treated her. Would you consider that traumatic, too?"

"Of course! That poor girl...it was obvious from the very beginning that she had some sort of traumatic past. She has come so far since then, no thanks to that awful man."

Byleth nodded. "I didn't know much about these things until my time at the monastery, but while I was there I saw so many people hurting. Everyone, really. Even me, after...after my father, and Sothis." They wiped away a tear; the downside to having emotions, they had learned, was that you had them whether you wanted to or not, and some wounds never fully heal. "I want what you want. I want to make a world where nobody has to suffer like we have. So please, let me help you."

"That's...that's one of the sweetest things you've ever said to me. Thank you, my love. But if I may suggest one thing: maybe send someone with a bit more heart, next time? From what I've heard, Count Varley had it coming to him, but I shudder to imagine Ingrid's reaction if Hubert and Shamir were to pay her father a visit."

"More heart..." Byleth pondered this for a moment. "Do you think Dorothea and Petra have more heart?"

"Yes, I would say so."

"That's a relief. They're probably already in Margrave Edmund's territory by now."

"Margrave Edmund...Byleth, just how many people have you sent on these visits?"

"Only them. And inviting Count Varley to Enbarr was your idea anyway. I'll be more careful from now on, though. I guess I still think like a mercenary sometimes. Thank you."

Edelgard wrapped her arms around Byleth's waist and gave them a hug. "I'm glad. If you want to share responsibility for these matters from now on, I suppose I don't mind, but please consult me before taking any drastic actions, okay? Now that we have this power, I would prefer to use it as peacefully as possible."

"Okay."

Byleth returned their wife's hug, and they sat together in comfortable silence, waiting for Hubert's return.

**Author's Note:**

> this started off as "what if we got DLC with a bunch of paralogues where you deal with the people who traumatized all your students, one way or another"
> 
> then turned into a microfic
> 
> which turned into an actual short fic
> 
> which itself turned into a slightly-longer fic that tried to avoid sweeping the issue of "you can't just Hubert-and-Shamir all your problems away" entirely under the rug
> 
> and now here we are! there's a chance that there will be more chapters after this; it feels incomplete right now, but we wanted to go ahead and get it out there before deciding whether or not to write more to go with it. the perfect is the enemy of the good, and so on.
> 
> hopefully we tagged this right? this always stresses us out, heh. the relationships aren't really the focus, but they're also, like, Pretty Clearly There (especially Edeleth), and we're not really sure how that's supposed to go. probably we're worrying about it too much.
> 
> also you can pry our wholesome Edeleth content from our cold dead hands


End file.
